MUSI2737 - Key Terms Prelude 2 + 3

Odom || Tuesday, Thursday 2:00pm

Organum

Earliest kind of polyphonic music, which developed from the custom of adding voices above a plainchant; they first ran parallel to the chant at the interval of a fifth or fourth and later moved more freely

Vernacular

The common language spoken by the people as distinguished from the literary language, or language of the educated elite

Latin

The formal language of the church and the sacred tradition

Troubadours

Medieval poet‐musicians in southern France; such women were called troubairitz

Trouvères

Medieval poet‐musicians in northern France

Gregorian Chant

Monophonic melody with a freely flowing, unmeasured vocal line; liturgical chant of the Roman Catholic Church. Also plainchant or plainsong

Liturgy

The set order of religious services and the structure of each service, within a particular denomination (e.g., Roman Catholic)

Syllabic

Melodic style of one note set to each text syllable

Neumatic

Melodic style with two to four notes set to each syllable

Melismatic

Melodic style characterized by many notes sung to a single text syllable

Tonal

Based on principles of major‐minor tonality, as distinct from modal or atonal

Mass

Central service of the Roman Catholic Church

Proper

Sections of the Roman Catholic Mass that vary from day to day throughout the church year according to the liturgical occasion

Ordinary

Sections of the Roman Catholic Mass that remain the same from day to day throughout the church year

Kyrie

The first musical section of the Ordinary of the Mass. Its construction is threefold, involving three repetitions of “Kyrie eleison” (Lord, have mercy), three of “Christe eleison” (Christ, have mercy), and again three of “Kyrie eleison”

A Cappella

Choral music performed without instrumental accompaniment

Antiphonal

Performance style in which an ensemble is divided into two or more groups, performing in alternation and then together

Verse

In poetry, a group of lines constituting a unit. In liturgical music for the Catholic Church, a phrase from the Scriptures that alternates with the response

Unison

“Interval” between two notes of the same pitch (for example, two voices on the same E); the simultaneous playing of the same note

Responsorial Singing

Singing, especially in Gregorian chant, in which a soloist or a group of soloists alternates with the choir. See also call and response

Neumes

Little ascending or descending symbols used to help singers remember the general shapes of the different melodies

Modes

Scale or sequence of notes used as the basis for composition; major and minor are modes

Offices

Cycle of daily services of the Roman Catholic Church, distinct from the Mass

Monasteries

Religious communities of individuals who chose to gather in systematic religious practice

Estampie

A dance form prevalent in medieval France, either sung or performed instrumentally

Rebec

Medieval bowed‐string instrument, often with a pear‐shaped body

Pipe

A medieval flute with three holes, blown at one end through a mouthpiece

Guitarra Moresca

A strummed string instrument introduced into Spain by the Moors; an early version of the guitar

Nakers

Medieval percussion instrument of Middle Eastern origin resembling small kettledrums and played in pairs with the hands

Ars Nova

“New art,” the refined, complex style of polyphony in fourteenth‐century France, as exemplified by music of Guillaume de Machaut

Ars Antiqua

The “old art” of twelfth‐ and thirteenth‐century French polyphony, displaced by the Ars nova

Chanson

French monophonic or polyphonic song, especially of the Middle Ages and Renaissance, set to either courtly or popular poetry

Rondeau

Medieval and Renaissance fixed poetic form and French chanson type with a courtly love text

Ballade

French poetic form and chanson type of the Middle Ages and Renaissance, with a courtly love text. Also, a Romantic genre, especially a lyric piano piece

Virelai

Medieval and Renaissance fixed poetic form and French chanson type, generally with a courtly love text

Word-Painting

Musical pictorialization of words as an expressive device; a prominent feature of the Renaissance madrigal

Madrigalism

A striking effect designed to depict the meaning of the text in vocal music; found in many madrigals and other genres of the sixteenth through eighteenth centuries

Madrigal

Renaissance secular work (originating in Italy) for voices, with or without instruments, set to a short, lyric love poem; also popular in England

Part Book

A bound music book—either print or manuscript—with music for a single vocalist or instrumentalist

French Chanson

French monophonic or polyphonic song, especially of the Middle Ages and Renaissance, set to either courtly or popular poetry

Italian Madrigal

Renaissance secular work (originating in Italy) for voices, with or without instruments, set to a short, lyric love poem; also popular in England

Imitation

Melodic idea presented in one voice or part and then restated in another, each part continuing as others enter

Cantus Firmus

“Fixed melody,” usually of very long notes, often based on a fragment of Gregorian chant, that served as the structural basis for a polyphonic composition, particularly in the Renaissance

Motet

Polyphonic vocal genre, often secular in the Middle Ages but sacred or devotional thereafter

Homorhythmic

Texture in which all voices, or lines, move together in the same rhythm

Humanism

A new way of thinking centered on human issues and the individual

Gloria

The second musical section of the Ordinary of the Mass

Credo

The third musical section of the Ordinary of the Mass

Sanctus

The fourth musical section of the Ordinary of the Mass

Agnus Dei

The last musical section of the Ordinary of the Mass

Congregational Singing

Simple worship music, often monophonic, in which the church congregation participates; often associated with Lutheranism and Calvinism

Reformation

Protestant movement that called for a change in practices of the Roman Catholic Church

Counter-Reformation

Catholic movement that focused on a return to Christian piety

Council of Trent

Longest committee meeting; addressed the matter of church music

Bas

Medieval and Renaissance category of soft instruments, used mainly for indoor occasions, as distinct from haut, or loud, instruments

Haut

Medieval and Renaissance category of loud instruments, used mainly for outdoor occasions, as distinct from bas, or soft, instruments

Recorder

End‐blown woodwind instrument with a whistle mouthpiece, generally associated with early music eras

Lute

Plucked‐string instrument of Middle Eastern origin, popular in western Europe from the late Middle Ages to the eighteenth century

Shawm

A double‐reed instrument of Middle Eastern origin; the ancestor of the oboe

Sackbut

Early brass instrument, ancestor of the trombone

Cornetto

Early instrument of the brass family with woodwind‐like fingerholes; developed from the cow horn but was made of wood

Tabor

Cylindrical medieval drum

Pavane

Stately Renaissance court dance in duple meter

Saltarello

A sprightly Italian dance featuring leaping steps, popular in the Renaissance era

Ronde

Lively Renaissance “round dance,” usually performed outdoors

Embellishment

Melodic decoration, either improvised or indicated through ornamentation signs in the music

Doxology

A prayer of thanks to God, sung after a psalm or at the close of the Magnificat

Da Capo Aria

Lyric song in ternary, or A‐B‐A, form, commonly found in operas, cantatas, and oratorios

Opera

Music drama that is generally sung throughout, combining the resources of vocal and instrumental music with poetry and drama, acting and dancing, scenery and costumes

Recitative

Solo vocal declamation that follows the inflections of the text, often resulting in a disjunct vocal style; found in opera, cantata, and oratorio. Can be secco or accompagnato

Aria

Lyric song for solo voice with orchestral accompaniment, generally expressing intense emotion; found in cantata, opera, and oratorio

Overture

An introductory movement, as in an opera or oratorio, often presenting melodies from arias to come. Also concert overture

Sinfonia

Short instrumental work, found in Baroque opera, to facilitate scene changes

Libretto

Text or script of an opera, oratorio, cantata, or musical (also called the “book” in a musical)

Masque

English genre of aristocratic entertainment that combined vocal and instrumental music with poetry and dance, developed during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries

Hornpipe

Country dance of the British Isles, often in a lively triple meter; optional dance movement of solo and orchestral Baroque suites. A type of duple‐meter hornpipe is still popular in Irish traditional dance music

Scotch Snap

A reversed rhythmic dotting pattern, in which short notes occur on the beat

Ground Bass

A repeating melody, usually in the bass, throughout a vocal or instrumental composition

Chorale

Congregational hymn of the German Lutheran church

Collegium Musicum

An association of amateur musicians, popular in the Baroque era. Also, a modern university ensemble dedicated to the performance of early music

Bar Form

Three‐part A‐A‐B form, frequently used in music and poetry, particularly in Germany

Oratorio

Large-scale dramatic genre originating in the Baroque, based on a text of religious or serious character, performed by solo voices, chorus, and orchestra; similar to opera but without scenery, costumes, or action

Ritornello

Short, recurring instrumental passage found in the Baroque aria and concerto.

Lutheran Cantata

A multimovement genre for voices and instruments with a lyric or dramatic religious text, for use in the Lutheran church service

Figured Bass

Baroque practice consisting of an independent bass line that often includes numerals indicating the harmony to be supplied by the basso continuo keyboard player. Also thorough‐bass

Basso Continuo

Italian for “continuous bass.” See figured bass. Also refers to a performance group with a chordal instrument (harpsichord, organ) and one bass melody instrument (cello, bassoon); also continuo

Major-Minor Tonality

A harmonic system based on the use of major and minor scales, widely practiced from the seventeenth to the late nineteenth century. See also tonality

Equal Temperament

Tuning system (used today) based on the division of the octave into twelve equal half steps

Castrato

Male singer who was castrated during boyhood to preserve his soprano or alto vocal register; prominent in seventeenth‐ and early eighteenth‐century opera

Improvisation

Spontaneous creation or elaboration of music through performance, as in Baroque ornamentation, cadenzas of concertos, jazz, and some non‐Western musics

Virtuosity

Remarkable technical skill

Suite

A unified series of instrumental movements meant to be performed as a single work; in the Baroque era, a series of contrasting dances, generally in the same key

Allemande

German dance in moderate duple meter, popular during the Renaissance and Baroque periods; often the first movement of a Baroque suite

Courante

French Baroque dance, a standard movement of the suite, in triple meter at a moderate tempo

Sarabande

Stately Spanish Baroque dance type in triple meter, a standard movement of the Baroque suite

Jig

A vigorous dance developed in the British Isles, usually in compound meter; became fashionable on the Continent as the gigue; still popular as an Irish traditional dance genre

Minuet

An elegant triple‐meter dance type popular in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries; usually in binary form. See also minuet and trio

Gavotte

Duple‐meter French Baroque dance type with a moderate to quick tempo

Bourrée

Lively French Baroque dance type in duple meter

Passepied

French Baroque court dance type; a faster version of the minuet